I've got my Halloween read picked out for this year: The Night Strangers by Chris Bohjalian. Supposed to be really good and creepy.

One I can wholeheartedly recommend is The Monster of Florence by Preston & Spezi. True crime about a serial killer in Italy that has baffled investigators for decades. And the authors actually get involved, one actually accused of being the killer, while writing the book! Utterly fascinating and I spent much of one night reading it in the dark in a cabin in the woods we were staying at...it was creeping me out badly. I mean, my pulse was pounding, every little sound of the trees or the house settling was nerve-wracking, but I couldn't stop reading. Never been that creeped out by a book before.

Make sure you read Legion too. I found it more frightening than the Exorcist.

Legion is one of my most favorite books of all time. There are some absolutely chilling scenes and ideas in there.

I might add that the movie version is very good as well but it cuts out the subplots which I thought were the best parts of the book. However the movie does contain a scare that scared me so badly that I had to stop it and walk away for a bit, and I've been watching horror movies since I was a kid.

My current favorite horror novel is That Which Should Not Be by Brett J. Talley. Very gothic and Lovecraftian, super atmospheric, and genuinely creepy. It's not really fast paced nor does it have a "Boo!" scare factor but the atmosphere, descriptions and sense of creeping dread are definitely chilling.

I think I'll read "The Other," by Thomas Tryon, a book which I've been meaning to read for 30-some years. (Availabe as an ebook where better ebooks are sold. )

Here's one review to whet your appetite:

“If you’re looking for a good scary book to enjoy this Halloween, here is a suggestion: The Other by Thomas Tryon. The 1971 horror classic is a tale of a seemingly bucolic farmhouse in a small Connecticut town in the 1930s. There are no vampires in the story, no ghosts, no swamp monsters or ghouls or zombies or witches. There are two little boys, twins Niles and Holland, the picture of innocence. Or so it seems. The story is told in the voice of one of the boys, now older and a resident of a sanitarium. Insanity, it seems, is a family inheritance, and insanity is at the core of the chilling story that slowly unfolds and culminates in some horrifying deaths.
– Advocate (Baton Rouge)

I collect him in hardback. His novel "Harvest Home" is incredible, but not yet available as an ebook.

I have a strong desire to fondle my First edition Thomas Tryon titles, but unfortunately they're all in storage in the U.S., currently in a climate-controlled storage.